I know Caz is from Australia, of course hunting now I can't find her though.

DS had always been the only person on both sides our extended family with anaphylactic allergies. Well my cousin's little guy who just turned 3 has had severe eczema and food reactions/environmental reactions since he was a tiny guy. In the UK they won't test until kids are 2 but in the meantime they moved to Australia and found out they don't test there until kids are 3!!!! So she FINALLY got his testing done and peanuts/tree nuts/egg are test positive - 4's 5's on Rast. Thank goodness she avoided most top allergens the last couple of years as she didn't know what it was he was reacting to aside from egg which she was certain of.

I gave her all the standard reputable sites (AL )etc. but as far as food products and specific stores to shop at she really needs help from Australia. She is feeling the grief, sadness, anxiety of having just been given his first ( ) epipen and is totally overwhelmed. She has been googling sites but just doesn't know where to start. I was hoping may be Caz or someone else had direct links to help, stores in Australia to get her started.

I would love info too, if anyone gets hold of some. We are going there on a holiday for a month early next year, and I need to research brands of bread, crackers, etc that are safe for TN/P/E/D free stuff. I am considering making my own bread while there, and don't want to bring the bread machine, so may use my new 'no-knead' method. . . requires planning ahead, though, which might be tough on holiday.

BC2007 I have pm'd you but for general info you will find the labelling in aust very good for the following allergens-peanut, treenut, dairy, egg, wheat (including gluten containing grains-not specific for the grain quite often but will tell you if gluten is present), soy, shellfish, fish, and sesame. (all have mandatory labelling over here-except where food is made on the premises eg cafe/bakery where they have to be able to tell you the ingredients then and there (these are allergens that are our most common here).
The two main supermarkets are coles and woolworths-both have extensive ranges of all sorts of food and in most of the bigger cities will have quite large 'health' food sections which often have various 'free from ' products. there are heaps of 'health food shops around that you will find various types of food in.

if you google állergy free food (location aust) you will find a number of online food shops that will give you some brands of foods that might be helpful (we dont use them as 1/2 my sons allergies arent considered allergens by these companies eg sunflower is quite often used as its considered very 'healthy '').

As far as brands go i really dont have any specifics as for us the ingredients are ever changing even from batch to batch but Im sure the allergy free google will help. Ingredients do change though so make sure you check every time.

In Victoria we have excellent anaphylaxis managment laws-mandatory training for all teachers and childcare workers (with yearly refreshers) where there is a child at risk of anaphylaxis in their care. Most schools do not advocate any 'food bans 'but practice no food sharing, hand washing and careful eating and it works very effectively.
We have epipen (still old and new versions but old should be phased out over this year) and anapen (I understand anapen is more popular in nsw/qld than here). Anapen has been on the market here for about 18-24 months i think so is still relatively new. There are no other versions or generic options.

I am on a facebook site '' Anaphylaxis & Allergy Awareness Australia - Support'' and there seem to be a lot of people there with the top 9 allergens so they may be able to help with specifics.

As far as going out...we really only go to our local pub and take j's meal as his allergens are too difficult to manage (being non top 9 and no mandatory labelling for 3 of them) and mcdonalds (they have lists of ingredients on the internet so usually there are a couple of things he can get). most places if you phoned ahead and spoke with the chef would be able to acoomodate you.

THIS is exactly why I love this forum so much. No matter what you need someone somewhere is there to help. I love you guys!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH CAZ!!! That is exactly what she needs and I passed on your personal information to her. I joined her to my allergy mommy fb page but the thing is the products /stores are all different and she needs someone in Aust. to message and find out which grocery store has what or where to go buy a good epi pouch (which she is looking for right now). She could find the basic big sites but what she really needed was a direct link to real people.

Alison's mom, wow, that would be an amazing trip!!!

I see sunflower on your proflile Caz...her son had an issue with refusing sunflower this week and the allergist told my cousin to now avoid sunflower also. I told her to hope it was some kind of cross contamination with on of his known allergens....best case scenario! He also reacts with awful and almost instant eczema from tomato/strawberry so it seems they still have a ways to go before figuring out all his food issues.

I see sunflower on your proflile Caz...her son had an issue with refusing sunflower this week and the allergist told my cousin to now avoid sunflower also. .

hopefully its just the whole seeds-they are very easy to avoid....its the sunflower oil that will drive her mad! (because of its poor labelling). J had a hopsital challenge to check for the oil but sadly failed..It seems most can tolerate the oil.

if she needs to formally have it checked she would need free nut butter for spt as they dont have rast for it (at least not last year in vic).

dont think you will have any probs with bread...just checked the ingredients of our everyday bread that we use (home brand woolworths multigrain-no nuts, egg or dairy)...this will be everywhere.
cheers

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